Mitigating attacks on kernel address space layout randomization

ABSTRACT

Various systems and methods for detecting and preventing side-channel attacks, including attacks aimed at discovering the location of KASLR-randomized privileged code sections in virtual memory address space, are described. In an example, a computing system includes electronic operations for detecting unauthorized attempts to access kernel virtual memory pages via trap entry detection, with operations including: generating a trap page with a physical memory address; assigning a phantom page at an open location in the privileged portion of the virtual memory address space; generating a plurality of phantom page table entries corresponding to an otherwise-unmapped privileged virtual memory region; placing the trap page in physical memory and placing the phantom page table entry in a page table map; and detecting an access to the trap page via the phantom page table entry, to trigger a response to a potential attack.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to security techniquesapplied in computing systems, and in particular, to security enhancementtechniques applied in connection with address space layout randomizationmethods.

BACKGROUND

After the introduction of Data Execution Prevention (DEP) into variousoperating systems, attackers have resorted to various techniques forexecuting existing code to perform malicious or unauthorized actions. Acommon target for attackers is the execution of privileged (e.g., “Ring0”) code, such as operating system (OS) kernel code, which may beexecuted in a computing system at the highest levels of privilege, Forinstance, one attack technique involves the use of existing sections ofprivileged code and exploiting ROP (Return Oriented Programming) tochain “gadgets”—pieces of privileged code already loaded into memory toform an attack that needs privileged permissions.

In modern computers, software is written in terms of a virtual space,with use of virtual addresses. An attacker therefore has to know theaddress of the “gadgets” that they intend to use, in their own virtualspace. Computing systems have attempted to protect against ROP andsimilar attacks through techniques such as Kernel Address SpaceRandomization (KASLR). KASLR is a feature of modern OSs, designed todeny knowledge of where potential “gadgets” are located within theprocesses' virtual address space, thus preventing ROP and similarattacks. However, attacks have been developed to defeat addressrandomization techniques and locate the addresses of privileged (e.g.,“Ring 0”) code in virtual memory, and code and data from otherapplication (e.g., “Ring 3”) processes. These attacks make use of thefact that, for performance reasons, the kernel maps itself into theprocess' virtual address space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views, Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and notlimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a memory processing architecture, according to anexample;

FIG. 2 illustrates a memory processing architecture implementing a flowof address and memory content information in operational use cases,according to an example;

FIG. 3 illustrates translation from a virtual memory address to aphysical memory address via page tables, according to an example;

FIG. 4 illustrates virtual memory partitioning into Kernel and Useraddress spaces, and associated mapping to physical memory, according toan example;

FIG. 5 illustrates mapping of a Kernel virtual address space to a “Trap”page in physical address space, according to an example;

FIG. 6A illustrates a Search Swamping technique involving mapping of aKernel virtual address space to a page in a physical address space,according to an example;

FIG. 6B illustrates a Kernel misleading technique involving creation ofa large number of duplicate pages in a Kernel virtual address space,according to an example;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a technique for establishing andmonitoring “Trap” pages, according to an example;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart illustrating a method of detectingunauthorized attempts to access virtual memory pages, according to anexample;

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of components in an example computingsystem configured for detecting unauthorized attempts to access virtualmemory pages, according to an example; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram for an example electronic processingsystem (e.g., computer system) architecture upon which any one or moreof the techniques (e.g., operations, processes, methods, andmethodologies) discussed herein may be performed, according to anexample.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, methods, configurations, and relatedapparatuses are disclosed for the detection and mitigation ofside-channel analysis (SCA) attacks that attempt to locate privilegedpages in system memory. In particular, the techniques discussed hereinare applicable to detect kernel region probing activities launched fromSCA attacks, including SCA attacks on Kernel Space Address LayoutRandomization (KASLR) that are designed to defeat current attackdetection and mitigation methods.

Modern computer systems employ large amounts of Random Access Memory(RAM), which—for cost and other reasons—are located outside the CPUitself. Accessing such RAM is relatively slow compared to other CPUoperations. In order to improve performance, modern CPUs incorporatehierarchical memory systems, where faster (but smaller) memory elements,including caches and Translation Lookaside Buffers (TLBs), are locatedlogically and/or physically closer to the CPU.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example memory processing architecture 100 of amodern ×86 CPU. As shown, the architecture includes caches 110, 112,114, translation look aside buffers (TLBs) 120, and a Page Miss Handler(PMH) 130—a component of the Memory Management Unit (MMU)—forimplementing virtual memory paging for system memory 140. The basicfunctionality of the caches 110, 112, 114 and the TLBs 120 is designedso that such components retain their information from one use to thenext, and deliver this information faster than regular memory. Ingeneral, every time a piece of information—instructions, data, addressresolution—is obtained, it is stored in an appropriate cache or abuffer, so that on subsequent accesses to the same information, requiredit is taken from the cache or buffer rather than from its regularsource.

Due to economy and physical reasons, the caches 110, 112, 114, and TLBs120 may be shared between processes running on a CPU, and sometimes onseveral CPUs embedded in the same package. Additionally, such thesecomponents are relatively small, and utilize sophisticated algorithmsfor loading—and keeping—the pieces of information most likely to bere-used in the fastest possible cache.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example memory processing architecture 200implementing an example flow of address and memory content information.Specifically, the architecture 200 in FIG. 2 depicts operational usecases involving memory page or cache line hits and misses, with asimplified representation of how ×86 hardware translates a virtualmemory address to a physical address. Note that the “Caches” and“Buffers” depicted in the architecture 200 may be implemented as fastmemories internal to a CPU (except L3 cache 114, which may be sharedbetween several CPUs within the same physical package), while the“Memory” 140 is external Dynamic Random Access Memories (DRAM).Additionally, the Page Tables used by the PMH 130 reside in the externalDRAM (e.g., the system memory 140).

A user process' request for accessing its virtual memory (e.g., read,write) is routed first to the Translation Lookaside Table (TLB) 120,itself including an Instructions TLB (ITLB), a Data TLB (DTLB), and aunified Secondary TLB (STLB). If none of these buffers contain therequested address translation to a physical memory page—in other words,all relevant TLBs miss—then the MMU hardware goes to the Page MissHandler (PMH) 130.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example technique 300 for translation from avirtual memory address to a physical memory address via page tables. Thecurrent-design ×86 PMH (e.g., PIM 130) performs a “Page Walk”, buildingup the address of a page in physical memory by traversing Page Tables(e.g., as many as four or five tables and levels) located in Kernelmemory space.

In the example technique 300, on context switching, the CPU loadshardware register CR3 with the base address of the first table (Page MapLevel 4—PML4), and the nine (9) bits of the virtual address serve as anindex into the table to produce the base address of the next level (PageDirectory Pointer—PDP). The process repeats with the next level, PageDirectory (PD), and the next level, the Page Table (PT). Thus, eachlevel table is 4K bytes (512 (2⁹) lines, each 8 bytes long) and thecomplete “page walk” specifies a 4 KB page in physical memory. Thefinal, byte-level addressing within the 4 KB page is achieved through atwelve-bit offset. (It will be noted that this and other examples in thepresent application are provided in terms of 4 KB pages and four-levelpaging. Other page sizes and paging levels, depending on paging mode,are possible and usable with the techniques discussed herein).

Traversing the page table structure takes a relatively long time, so thePMH has its own caches, associated with each of the page tables (asshown in caches illustrated in the architectures 100, 200 discussedabove). The presence of matching information in each of caches andbuffers shown in the simplified drawing has some impact on the time ittakes to perform certain commands. Thus, although logically two separateprocesses running in the same CPU, or in different CPUs within the samepackage, may be completely isolated and cannot pass any information fromone to the other except in a manner allowed by privileged software, suchas an OS, Virtual Memory Manager (VMM) or Container manager, informationmay still be passed. Specifically, this information may indicate thetime required to perform an operation by one process is affected bywhether data, an instruction, or even parts of the path of physicaladdress translation, are cached due to another operation performed bythe second process. Such routes for passing information are commonlytermed “Side Channels”.

The system software (e.g., VMM and OS) may assign properties to variousareas of memory, and one of these properties is the privileges allowedto access the area of memory, such as read modify data or run softwareinstructions loaded from the area of memory. For brevity, suchprivileged areas are referred to herein as the “Ring 0 region” or“Kernel region”, although such areas may include other privileged items(e.g. a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), device drivers, a VirtualMachine Manager (VMM), etc.).

Any attempt to access privileged memory from non-privileged softwarewill be prevented by the hardware, and result in an exception, withcontrol passing to privileged software. Some attackers have succeeded inovercoming this limitation by selecting and “stringing together”sections “Gadgets”—of privileged code already residing in memory.Attacks based on this concept are usually referred to as Return OrientedProgramming (ROP), with variations such as Jump Oriented Programming(JOP) and Return to LibC. Chained together, gadgets may allow anattacker to perform arbitrary operations on a machine employing defensesthat would otherwise thwart simpler attacks.

Kernel Address Space Randomization (KASLR) is one of the techniques usedby modern computer to prevent ROP attacks. KASLR is based on theprinciple that virtual addressing utilizes a very large addressspace—2³² bytes (4 GB) for a 32-bit operating system (OS), and up to 2⁶⁴bytes (16 Exabytes) for a 64-bit OS (although current hardware generallylimits the 64-bit addressing space to only 2⁴⁸ bytes, or 2 ⁵⁷ bytes,depending on paging mode). Privileged code, however, utilizes a muchsmaller space—typically about 100 MB in current implementations.

Privileged software is commonly implemented in a dedicated portion ofthe available virtual space customarily, 1 GB in 32-bit systems, severalterabytes in 64-bit systems, in a “Kernel” region. Thus, privilegedsoftware sets up itself and stores the actual code and data in randomvirtual addresses, somewhere within this Kernel Region. As anillustration of this separated region, FIG. 4 depicts an example virtualmemory partitioning into a Kernel virtual address space 420 and a Uservirtual address space 410, and associated mapping of pages from thesespaces to physical memory 430.

Importantly, although the privileged code and data is or is likely tobe—stored in the same physical memory addresses for all processes, theirvirtual addresses—through KASLR—are not. Thus, when ROP gadgets arestrung by virtual addresses, attacks become impractical due to KASLRprotection. In fact such attacks, if attempted, are likely to lead tocomputer failure (e.g., a “blue screen” in the OS). However, KASLRprotection may be overcome in some scenarios through Side ChannelAnalysis attacks, aimed at discovering the correct location of theprivileged code in the attacker's virtual address space, as apreparatory step to the main ROP attack.

Side Channel Analysis (SCA) of the Kernel virtual address space is madepossible because although any attempt to access privileged virtualmemory from a non-privileged process is denied, the time required toreceive such denial messages (often in the form of an exception), or thedifference in response times between two access attempts, provides theinformation the attacker is seeking to identify privileged codelocations. Additionally, the page lookup (page walk) architectureillustrated above shows that the time to respond is a function of notonly whether the translation of the requested address is alreadyin-cache, or that the content of the requested address is alreadycached, but also of where in the cache hierarchy that informationresides, and the type of information (e.g. instructions or data).

Exception messages received by the OS, VMM, or the like when a processis denied access, may theoretically be used to detect attacks. However,because such exceptions may also occur in circumstances other than anattack, such detection conventionally involves the collection ofstatistics. Thus, conventional software-based detection of an SCA attackmay riot be able to timely detect the attack, have appreciable falsepositives and false negative results, and often involve a highperformance penalty.

Additionally, hardware exception handling for certain commands may beinadequate to detect an attack. For example, access attempts throughPrefetch instructions are typically denied and provide side-channelinformation—but do not cause exceptions. Further, access attempts may becarried within a transactional region defined through a TransactionalSynchronization Extensions (TSX) instructions, in which an exception issupplied directly to the attacking process, bypassing the privilegedsoftware layers. Thus, SCA attacks using Prefetch, TSX and the like maybe un-detectable with current approaches, even by the OS or VirtualMachine Manager (VMM) monitoring of exceptions.

The following techniques provide a variety of mechanisms for detection,prevention, and response to attacks. In an example, the disclosedmechanisms include a creation and presence of “Phantom Pages” mapped tothe kernel region of each user process' virtual memory. Variations tothe use and deployment of such pages is discussed below.

As discussed above, in a typical computing system, the total virtualspace for a given CPU is determined by its architecture, typicallyranging from 2³² bytes (4 GB), to 2⁴⁸ bytes (256 Petahytes). Suchcomputers employ “mapping” schemes that create for each active process acorrespondence between that process' virtual memory, and portion of the(typically) much smaller physical memory actually present in themachines.

As shown in FIG. 4, the virtual memory space may be divided by the OSinto a distinct “Kernel space” 420, usable essentially by privilegedcode and data, and into a “User space” 410, usable by other softwareapplications. A user process may address the whole memory, but does nothave permissions (or privileges) to access the privileged Kernel virtualaddress space 420. Addressing the privileged space in any way willtherefore result in an error (e.g., an exception). As discussed above,the size of the Kernel virtual address space 420 may range from 1 GB toseveral terabytes, but only a small part is actually used by theprivileged code and data. To avoid a waste of physical memory, only theactually-used virtual region is mapped to physical memory, through aMMU, with the virtual memory mapping scheme being managed by privilegedprocesses (e.g., an OS and VMM, as discussed above with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2). Variations to the virtual memory management may beimplemented with the following techniques.

Phantom Pages. As discussed in the following paragraphs, “Phantom Pages”refers to page addresses in a large number of “unused”, and otherwiseunmapped, Kernel virtual memory pages (e.g., space 420). They arerendered “Phantoms” through the process, described below, of mapping alarge number of such pages from virtual memory to a small number—one ormore—physical memory page address, referred below as “Trap pages”. In anexample, a technique for detecting the use of SCA attacks is provided bya combination of two facilities: Phantom pages mapped into Trap Pagesand “Trap Entry detectors”. The combined use of Trap pages and TrapEntry detectors is referred to as a “Trap+Trigger”.

Trap Pages. As discussed in the following paragraphs, “Trap Pages”refers to physical memory page addresses (which may or may not have acorresponding physical memory), into which some portion (e.g., all oralmost all) of the “Phantom pages”—otherwise unused and unmapped Kernelvirtual memory space pages—are mapped. An attacker does not know wherein virtual memory—the actual privileged code and data is mapped. As aresult, an attacker must search through their instance of kernel-regionvirtual memory, with each searched memory location investigated forside-channel timing behavior. Because the Phantom space is much largerthan the actual Kernel, the probability of the attacker trying to access(or “hit”) a Phantom is much larger than that of hitting a real Kerneladdress. However, a non-attacker process is highly unlikely to hit aPhantom, except due to a bug in the process or its environment (e.g.device drivers).

In accordance with these techniques, FIG. 5 illustrates an examplemapping technique 500 for a scenario involving mapping Kernel virtualaddress space Phantom pages to a “Trap” page 510 in physical addressspace. Specifically, the mapping technique 500 resembles the translationtechnique described above with reference to FIG. 3 (technique 300), butwith additional table structures whose entries are arranged in such amanner that the many “Phantoms” are mapped to one—or a few—designated“Trap” page, 510 in physical memory.

Trap Entry Detection. As discussed in the following paragraphs, “TrapEntry” occurs when a process reaches a physical memory page (or physicalmemory page address) designated as a trap, as described above. Suchentry may be detected by the CPU facility that translates the process'virtual memory address to a physical address. As an example, ×86 CPUarchitecture includes the PMH to perform such translation whenever theaddress is not already cached, performing a “page walk” through PageTables set up by the OS or VMM for each process. Thus, the MMU may bemodified to trigger on “hits”—access attempts—on physical addressesassigned to “Traps”.

Additionally, ×86 architecture typically includes a number of “RangeRegisters”. Each of these registers may include a pair ofregisters—“Base” and “Mask”—that specify certain property of a range ofphysical addresses defined by a logical operation between the registerpair, and a combination of hardware and software facility (e.g.,microcode) that performs certain actions whenever an address within thatrange is accessed. In an example, this pair is defined to specify that a“hit” results in a specific message (e.g., exception) to the OS, VMM,etc.

Additionally, ×86 Page Table structures typically includes bits thatprovides the hardware and the OS with information about the propertiesof the addressed physical memory, e.g., “Present”, “Dirty”, “Addressspace” or “Process ID”. An additional (or reserved) bit, or acombination of such bits, may be used to indicate a Trap and facilitatedetection of Trap entry.

It should be noted that address translation hardware does notnecessarily require that physical memory be present at the resultingphysical address. Thus, a “Trap page” may be implemented without wastinga page of expensive physical memory. It should also be noted thatdevices such as PMH obtain their information from Page Tables that areby themselves in physical memory. Thus, triggering may be obtained froma “hit” on a page table address rather than on the address specified bythe attacking process. In an example, the “Trap+Trigger” techniqueimposes almost zero performance penalty on processes that do not hit aTrap. Thus, only the performance of attackers (and processes whose codeincludes bugs of a particular nature) is affected.

It should also be noted that although the description above assumes useof hardware to detect Trap entry, microcode and/or software may also beused, with the attending performance loss. However, because Trap hitsare rare events, all post-trigger activities may be performed bymicrocode and software with small or virtually no performance loss.

It should also be noted that theoretically, a single “Trap hit” may besufficient for the OS/VMM to invoke a penalty on the offending process.However, other policies, such as exceeding a set number of Trap hits, anumber of hits per unit time, and the like, may be utilized.

It should also be noted that the Trap entry detector may be designed toprovide the OS/VMM/etc. with additional information on the circumstancesleading to the hit, such as the identity of the processes that causedthe trap hit, the command environment (e.g. TSX region, Prefetchoperation etc.) leading to the hit, and the like. Such information maybe used to filter out trap hits that may be handled by regular OS/VMMmechanisms, and concentrate on hits that are not detectable by suchmechanisms, such as TSX-based or Prefetch-based attacks, or legitimateaccess attempts by the privileged code itself.

It should also be noted that the detector actions are not limited toissuing messages, and may perform any other desirable action e.g.restore processor state, clear certain caches i buffers (e.g., TLB), orcollect statistics for later analysis of user behavior.

In an example, “Trap +Trigger” includes three stages: a preparatory stepof placing the phantoms, trap, triggering mechanism and post-triggeractions in place, a “run-time” monitoring of trap entry, and—only aftertrap entry is triggered—taking an action. However, there may be caseswhere for legal, business, or other reasons, system policy is not totake a punitive action such as implied by “Trap +Trigger”. The followingtwo methods, search space swamping and kernel misleading, areappropriate for such cases, because such methods involve only apreparatory step that is designed to hinder an attacker's “run-time”actions while ensuring that non-attackers are not affected.

Search Space Swamping. Assuming that due to system policy, TSX, Prefetchetc. attacks are not detected and “killed” immediately (e.g. the OSresponding to a “Trap+Trigger” signal), the attacker may perform thesearch for the actual privileged addresses within his virtual memory. Inan example, a technique for mitigating SCA attacks is provided bysetting up “Phantoms” and “Traps” as above, including appropriate pageattributes but without the trigger facility. Thus, the Phantom pagespresent to the attacker a much larger search space than actually needed,thus making the complete attack too lengthy to be of practical use.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example Search Swamping technique involvingmapping of a high proportion of a Kernel virtual address space to onepage in a physical address space. As shown, within the kernel virtualaddress space 600, a large swath of the kernel virtual address space,pages 620, are made into “Phantoms” by mapping them to one physical Trappage (page 625) in the physical memory 610. Other valid kernel pages 630remain mapped to respective pages (pages 635) in the physical memory610.

The SCA signal is determined from the difference in the time required toaccess (successfully or not) mapped memory (e.g., virtual memorythat—through TLB and Page Tables—maps into physical memory) versusun-mapped memory, both by itself and by the differential in timing dueto the presence of the data or address in the various caches and theTLB. As described above, un-mapped Kernel virtual memory address spaceis much larger than the mapped portion the attacker is seeking. Thus, anattacker typically tries to use “course” and fast SCA methods toeliminate the un-mapped virtual regions, and then use finer—andslower—SCA methods e.g. the “pattern matching” described below, morerepetitions etc. on the mapped regions. Because now almost all virtualmemory is mapped, the attacker is forced to use the slower, more preciseSCA methods to obtain enough SCA signal-to-noise ratio over practicallyall of Kernel virtual memory. This is likely to increase the timerequired to complete an attack, possibly to the point of foiling it.This is even more likely because a typical attack target often runs manyprocesses simultaneously, creating noise in the SCA time measurement.Thus, a typical attack has to examine so many points, and repeat so manytimes in order to filter out the SCA signal noise, that the attack ismade unfeasible.

Note that the SCA average signal-to-noise ratio may be further reducedthrough application of one or more of the attributes described in“Kernel Misleading” (discussed below) in conjunction with the Trap(s).

Kernel Misleading. In an example, a technique for mitigating SCA attacksis provided by a combination of two facilities: “Phantoms and Traps”,and “Page Properties Setting”. The combination is termed here “KernelMisleading”.

FIG. 6B illustrates a side-channel analysis (SCA)-detectable Kernelpattern 685 and an example technique for creation of a large nurriber ofduplicate pages in a kernel virtual address space 650, with minimalexpenditure of actual physical memory 660, as part of a “KernelMisleading” implementation. Prior to Kernel Misleading implementation,system administrators look—manually or automatically for a number ofsuch patterns likely to be used by attackers for precise location ofKernel gadgets, shown in the example as 680. As shown, Phantom pages 670having the same pattern of page attributes as 680, due to being mappedto Traps 675 in physical memory whose attributes are identical to thevalid kernel pages 680.

In an SCA attack, once the attacker identifies the actual kernel region,he has to identify the location of suitable “gadgets”—sections ofprivileged code that may be chained together to implement the actualattack. Such identification is conventionally performed by matching thepattern of minute response time variations received during the attack,to known (reference) patterns obtained beforehand, possibly on a similarcomputer system owned and operated by the attacker. Some of these timevariations stem from different properties of the accessed physicalmemory. For example, besides the well-known Executable (X), Notexecutable (NX), Read Only (R), or Read Write (RW) properties, memoryaddresses in ×86 architecture may be assigned (through Memory Type RangeRegisters (MTRRs), Page Attribute Tables (PATS) and similararrangements) any one of six (6) memory types: Uncacheable=UC,Write-Combining=WC, Write-Through=WT, Write-Protect=WP, Write-Back=W andReserved.

With a “Kernel Misleading” technique, multiple Phantom Pages may beassigned different properties and types, in such a way the time responsepattern obtained by an attacker hitting on these Phantom Pages will besimilar (or identical, with the constraints of process noise etc.) tothe attacker's reference patterns, thus creating “Phantom Kernels”.Since the number of the Phantoms Kernels may be large, the probabilityof the attacker using a Phantom location to construct his gadgets may belarge, and thus the probability of foiling an attack is expected to behigh.

It should be noted that although at least in the ×86architecture—assignment of memory type and property may be performedwithout actually allocating physical memory for the Trap Pages, assuringthat an attack using gadgets chained from these pages is “naturally”punished does require that suitable code is present in physical memory.However, such physical memory expenditure may be minimized by mapping asmultiple instances of various pattern in virtual memory to a singleinstance of physical memory, as shown in the example.

The three techniques described above (e.g., Trap+Trigger illustrated inFIG. 5, Search Swamping illustrated in FIG, 6A, and Kernel Misleadingdepicted in FIG. 6B) may be combined in various permutations to create amore effective overall mitigation of SCA attacks on KASLR. For example,both Search Swamping and Kernel Misleading Phantom pages may beinterspaced, and “Trap Pages” even without the use of OS/VMMnotification—may be employed to enhance pattern matching by having Trapprocessing in microcode manipulate the SCA timing to further mislead theattacker.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart 700 of an example technique forestablishing and monitoring “Phantom” and “Trap” pages and Trap entries.As described herein, page table entries and trap pages may be used todetect attempted accesses to Phantom pages in virtual memory, under theassumption that such access attempts would occur only as a result of anattack, or as a result of unacceptable software errors.

The flowchart 700 depicts the operations for establishing the trappages, including creating the Phantom pages at locations in kernelvirtual memory address space not required for the (randomized) Kernelcode (operation 710), by mapping them into one or more Trap pages inphysical memory addresses, and optionally establishing the attributesfor such trap pages (operation 720). The operations continue with theestablishment of a monitor for an attempted access to such trap pages(operation 730). This monitor may be implemented at least in part byhardware operations.

The flowchart 700 continues with operations that detect access to one ormore trap pages (operation 740, detecting the attempted access fromevent 735), and optionally detecting repeated access to the same ordifferent trap pages (operation 750). As a result of the detection ofaccess, operations may be performed to indicate a potential attack(operation 760) that may trigger hardware or software exceptions,events, logging, or like actions (Operation 742). Optionally, Operation744 may be implemented to restore relevant system parameters to theirpre-detection state. Attempted accesses to the trap pages—especiallyrepeated ones—could indicate an attack, and trigger an appropriateresponse to detect or prevent unauthorized actions within the computingsystem.

For example, measures may be implemented within the computing system toalert and stop the potential SCA attack (operation 770). In stillfurther examples, various features may be implemented to prevent furtheraccess or detection of kernel memory pages. The attack deterrencetechniques discussed herein, for example, may provide suchcountermeasures. Note that in principle, the false alarm rate for adetection method that uses trap page table entries should be very low.Also, there may be minimal or no effect on performance, because regularusers should not hit the trap pages (except in the case of a programerror).

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart 800 of an example method of detectingunauthorized attempts to access virtual memory pages in accordance withthe techniques above. The following operations of the flowchart 800 maybe conducted by a computing system including hardware and softwarecomponents to implement the following operations or the other operationsdiscussed herein. It will be understood that the sequence and type ofoperations of the flowchart 800 may be potentially modified based on theother examples of SCA kernel page probe prevention and detection asprovided herein.

The operations of the flowchart 800 begin with operations to load OSkernel data and other protected data into a kernel virtual memoryaddress space using one or more security or memory managementtechniques, such as KASLR (operation 810). Other forms of randomizationor address page distribution may also be employed. The operations of theflowchart 800 continue with the generation and placement of trap pagesin physical memory and phantom pages in the kernel virtual memory space(operation 820) and the establishment of various attributes (e.g.,read/write) for the phantom pages (operation 830). The generation andplacement may include the insertion of one or multiple trap pages intophysical memory, and the insertion of phantom page table entries in apage table map that maps to one or multiple of the trap pages inphysical memory (e.g., to fill locations of unused memory addresses inthe kernel virtual memory space, such as with use of the search spaceswamping technique discussed above). Further, because page table mappingmay involve multiple table levels (e.g., 4 or 5 page table levels), thecreation of a phantom page may involve multiple page table entries(e.g., 4 or 5 page table entries). The establishment of the variousattributes may also include the use of kernel misleading as discussed.above.

The operations of the flowchart 800 continue with the detection ofaccess (a single access, repeated access, patterned access, etc.) to thetrap page (or multiple trap pages) in memory, (operation 840), which maybe detected through hardware registers or access to one or more phantompage table entries in the kernel virtual memory address space. This maybe followed by the generation of an exception (e.g., in hardware) inresponse to the attempted access of the trap page(s) (operation 850).The attempted access of the trap page(s) may he further handled in thecomputing system, based on processing of the exception generated(operation 860), and followed by countermeasures in software or hardware(operation 870). For example, one countermeasure may includerandomization of access times to in-cache and out-of-cache pages, theequalization of access times to in-cache and out-of-cache pages, or theenactment of various security mechanisms in software. Other security andmemory management techniques may also be implemented in response to theexception.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of components in an example computingsystem configured for detecting unauthorized attempts to access virtualmemory pages. As shown, the block diagram depicts high-level componentsof electronic processing system 900 (e.g., a computing system) includingprocessing circuitry 910, system memory 920, and an operating system950. It will be understood that additional hardware and functionalcomponents (including those indicated in FIG. 10) may be added orsubstituted in the system 900.

The processing circuitry 910 is depicted as providing componentsincluding: one or more processor cores 912 to perform computationalexecution of instructions, one or more processor registers 914 to holdand operate on instructions and addresses, one or more processor caches916 to hold and operate on data (including data retrieved from memory),and a memory management hardware 918 (e.g., a memory management unit,including a TLB and other buffers) used to provide access to memory,such as translation of virtual memory addresses to physical addresses.The page management techniques discussed herein (e.g., to prevent ordetect kernel page access) may operate with use of the memory managementhardware 918 to access and operate on the memory address space.

The system memory 920 is depicted as including main memory 922 andsecondary memory 924. although in other examples a single memory unit orcomponent may be present. For example, the main memory 922 may includehigh-speed volatile memory (RAM) used for pages loaded into memory fromthe virtual memory address space, while the secondary memory 924 mayinclude lower-speed non-volatile memory (e.g., a SSD storage drive) thatis temporarily used for other pages loaded into memory from the virtualmemory address space.

The computing system 900 further depicts the use of an operating system950 which includes virtual memory management 940 and side-channel attackprevention functionality 930. Such functionality may be provided fromfeatures of the operating system 950 or software loaded onto theoperating system 950, such as with software-configured hardware that isimplemented with use of the processing circuitry 910 and the systemmemory 920 (e.g., by instructions executed using the processingcircuitry 910 and the memory 920).

In an example, the virtual memory management 940 performs managementoperations on behalf of operating system functions (including operatingsystem kernel features) and executing software applications. The loadingand deployment of memory pages into memory may be performed with use ofKASLR management functionality 942, such as used to randomize locationsof kernel pages in the virtual memory address space.

In a further example, the side-channel attack detection functionality930 includes various components and functionality to implement thetechniques discussed above (e.g., the SCA probe detection techniquesdiscussed with reference to FIGS. 5 to 6B above). For example, theside-channel attack detection functionality 930 may include aspects of:phantom and trap page creation functionality 932 that is used to createand deploy the trap pages in a virtual memory address space as discussedabove; kernel page access functionality 934 that is used to obscure theunauthorized discovery and access of kernel pages in a virtual memoryaddress space as discussed above; page timing functionality 936 that isused to obscure or change the timing to access pages in virtual memoryaddress space as discussed above; and trap page monitoring functionality938 that is used to respond to the unauthorized discovery of trap pagesas discussed above (including, to implement security responses). Infurther examples, the feature of the side-channel attack detectionfunctionality 930 may be integrated within the KASLR managementfunctionality 942 or other aspects of the operating system 950.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a machine 1000 in the exampleform of an electronic processing system, within which a set or sequenceof instructions may be executed to cause the machine to perform any oneof the methodologies discussed herein, according to an exampleembodiment. Circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) refers to acollection of circuits implemented in tangible entities of the machine1000 that include hardware (e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.).Circuitry membership may be flexible over time. Circuitries includemembers that may, alone or in combination, perform specified operationswhen operating. In an example, hardware of the circuitry may beimmutably designed to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired).In an example, the hardware of the circuitry may include variablyconnected physical components (e.g., execution units, transistors,simple circuits, etc.) including a machine readable medium physicallymodified (e.g., magnetically, electrically, moveable placement ofinvariant massed particles, etc.) to encode instructions of the specificoperation. In connecting the physical components, the underlyingelectrical properties of a hardware constituent are changed, forexample, from an insulator to a conductor or vice versa. Theinstructions enable embedded hardware (e.g., the execution units or aloading mechanism) to create members of the circuitry in hardware viathe variable connections to carry out portions of the specific operationwhen in operation. Accordingly, in an example, the machine readablemedium elements are part of the circuitry or are communicatively coupledto the other components of the circuitry when the device is operating.In an example, any of the physical components may be used in more thanone member of more than one circuitry. For example, under operation,execution units may be used in a first circuit of a first circuitry atone point in time and reused by a second circuit in the first circuitry,or by a third circuit in a second circuitry at a different time.Additional examples of these components with respect to the machine 1000follow.

In various embodiments, the machine 1000 may operate as a standalonedevice or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In anetworked deployment, the machine 1000 may operate in the capacity of aserver machine, a client machine, or both in server-client networkenvironments. In an example, the machine 1000 may act as a peer machinein peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. Themachine 1000 may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet, a set-top box, apersonal digital assistant, a mobile telephone, a web appliance, anetwork router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executinginstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS),other computer cluster configurations.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 1000 may include a hardwareprocessor 1002 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combinationthereof), a main memory 1004, a static memory (e.g., memory or storagefor firmware, microcode, a basic-input-output (BIOS), unified extensiblefirmware interface (UEFI), etc.) 1006, and mass storage 1008 (e.g., harddrive, tape drive, flash storage, or other block devices) some or all ofwhich may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 1020.The machine 1000 may further include a display unit 1010, analphanumeric input device 1012 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface(UI) navigation device 1014 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the displayunit 1010, input device 1012 and 111 navigation device 1014 may be atouch screen display. The machine 1000 may additionally include astorage device (e.g., drive unit) 1016, a signal generation device 1018(e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 1026, and one or moresensors 1016, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass,accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 1000 may include an outputcontroller 1030, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB),parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near fieldcommunication (NEC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one ormore peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

Registers of the processor 1002, the main memory 1004, the static memory1006, or the mass storage 1008 may be, or include, a machine readablemedium 1022 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures orinstructions 1024 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one ormore of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions1024 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within any ofregisters of the processor 1002, the main memory 1004, the static memory1006, or the mass storage 1008 during execution thereof by the machine1000. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor1002, the main memory 1004, the static memory 1006, or the mass storage1008 may constitute machine readable media 1022. While the machinereadable medium 1022 is illustrated as a single medium, the term“machine readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cachesand servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 1024.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 1000 (e.g., a storage device) and that cause the machine1000 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the presentdisclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying datastructures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limitingmachine readable medium examples may include solid-state memories,optical media, magnetic media, and signals (e.g., radio frequencysignals, other photon based signals, sound signals, etc.). In anexample, a non--transitory machine readable medium comprises acomposition of matter. Specific examples of non-transitory machinereadable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductormemory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory(EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM))and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disksand removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks.

The instructions 1024 may be further transmitted or received over acommunications network 1028 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 1026 utilizing any one of a number of transferprotocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmissioncontrol protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the networkinterface device 1026 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g.,Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect tothe communications network 1028. In an example, the network interfacedevice 1026 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelesslycommunicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO),multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output(MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken toinclude any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding orcarrying instructions for execution by the machine 1000, and includesdigital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium tofacilitate communication of such software. A transmission medium is amachine readable medium.

It should be understood that the functional units or capabilitiesdescribed in this specification may have been referred to or labeled ascomponents or modules, in order to more particularly emphasize theirimplementation independence. Such components may be embodied by anynumber of software or hardware forms. For example, a component or modulemay be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising customvery-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A component or module may also be implemented inprogrammable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays,programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or the like,Components or modules may also be implemented in software for executionby various types of processors. An identified component or module ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified component or module need not be physicallylocated together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored indifferent locations which, when joined logically together, comprise thecomponent or module and achieve the stated purpose for the component ormodule.

Indeed, a component or module of executable code may be a singleinstruction, or many instructions, and may even he distributed overseveral different code segments, among different programs, and acrossseveral memory^(,) devices or processing systems. In particular, someaspects of the described process (such as code rewriting and codeanalysis) may take place on a different processing system (e.g., in acomputer in a data center), than that in which the code is deployed(e.g., in a computer embedded in a sensor or robot). Similarly,operational data may be identified and illustrated herein withincomponents or modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork. The components or modules may be passive or active, includingagents operable to perform desired functions.

Additional examples of the presently described method, system, anddevice embodiments include the following, non-limiting configurations.Each of the following non-limiting examples may stand on its own, or maybe combined in any permutation or combination with any one or more ofthe other examples provided below or throughout the present disclosure.

Example 1 is a computing system adapted for detecting unauthorizedattempts to access privileged virtual memory pages, the computing systemcomprising: memory to: host a plurality of privileged virtual memorypages in a privileged portion of a virtual memory address space; andmaintain a page table map of page table entries, wherein the page tablemap is used to indicate respective physical addresses in memory of theplurality of privileged virtual memory pages; and processing circuitryto: generate a trap page at a physical memory address of the memory;assign a phantom page at an open location in the privileged portion ofthe virtual memory address space; generate phantom page table entriesmapping the phantom page to the trap page; and detect access to the trappage, accessed via the phantom page table entries, to trigger a responseto a potential attack.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, the processingcircuitry further to generate the privileged virtual memory pages of anoperating system kernel or virtual memory manager, assign the privilegedvirtual memory pages in the privileged portion of the virtual memoryaddress space, and place page table entries for the privileged virtualmemory pages using kernel address space layout randomization (KASLR).

In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 includes, whereinoperations that assign the phantom page, include operations to establishattributes of the phantom page, wherein the attributes of the phantompage are established to reserrible pages of the privileged virtualmemory pages.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 includes, whereinattributes of the phantom page are established to indicate anexecutable, not executable, read only, read-write, uncacheable,write-combining, write-through, write-protect, write-back, or reservedstatus of a mapped page.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 includes, theprocessing circuitry further to trigger the response to the potentialattack, with operations that randomize or modify time to respond to theaccess to the trap page.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 includes, theprocessing circuitry further to trigger the response to the potentialattack, with operations to generate an exception.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Example 6 includes, wherein theexception is a page fault.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 includes, whereinoperations to assign the phantom page are performed from assignment of aplurality of phantom pages, and wherein operations to generate thephantom page table entries are performed to map the plurality of phantompages to the trap page.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1-8 includes, theprocessing circuitry further to generate a plurality of virtual memorypages for respective software programs executing in the computingsystem, and assign the virtual memory pages of the respective softwareprograms in a user portion of the virtual memory address space.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 1-9 includes, wherein theaccess to the trap page is detected via hardware registers or operationson page table entries.

Example 11 is at least one machine readable storage medium, comprising aplurality of instructions adapted for detecting unauthorized attempts toaccess virtual memory pages, wherein the instructions, responsive tobeing executed with processor circuitry of a computing machine, causethe computing machine to perform operations that: generate a trap pagein a memory, of the computing machine, wherein the computing machineoperates a virtual memory address space, and wherein a privilegedportion of the virtual memory address space is used to host a pluralityof privileged virtual memory pages mapped in the memory of the computingmachine; assign a phantom page at an open location in the privilegedportion of the virtual memory address space; generate phantom page tableentries in a page table map, the phantom page table entries mapping thephantom page to the trap page; detect access to the trap page, accessedvia the phantom page table entries, to trigger a response to a potentialattack.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 includes, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing machine to generate theprivileged virtual memory pages of an operating system kernel or virtualmemory manager, assign the privileged virtual memory pages in theprivileged portion of the virtual memory address space, and place pagetable entries for the privileged virtual memory pages using kerneladdress space layout randomization (KASLR).

In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 includes, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing machine to establish attributesof the phantom page, wherein the attributes of the phantom page areestablished to resemble pages of the privileged virtual memory pages.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 11-13 includes, whereinattributes of the phantom page are established to indicate anexecutable, not executable, read-only, read-write, uncacheable,write-combining, write-through, write-protect, write-back, or reservedstatus of a mapped page.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Examples 11-14 includes, whereinthe access to the trap page is detected via hardware registers oroperations on page table entries.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 11-15 includes, whereinthe instructions further cause the computing machine to trigger theresponse to the potential attack, with operations that generate anexception.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Examples 11-16 includes, whereinoperations to assign the phantom page are performed from assignment of aplurality of phantom pages, and wherein operations to generate thephantom page table entries are performed to map the plurality of phantompages to the trap page.

In Example 18, the subject matter of Examples 11-17 includes, whereinthe instructions further cause the computing machine to generate virtualmemory pages of software programs in the computing machine, and assignthe virtual memory pages of the software programs in a user portion ofthe virtual memory address space.

Example 19 is a method of detecting unauthorized attempts to accessvirtual memory pages, the method comprising electronic operationsperformed in a computing machine, including: generating a trap page at aphysical memory address of a memory of the computing machine, whereinthe computing machine operates a virtual memory address space, andwherein a privileged portion of the virtual memory address space is usedto host a plurality of privileged virtual memory pages mapped in thememory of the computing machine; assigning a phantom page at an openlocation in the privileged portion of the virtual memory address space;generating phantom page table entries in a page table map, the phantompage table entries mapping the phantom page to the trap page;maintaining the trap page in the memory and maintaining the phantom pagetable entry in the page table map; and detecting an access to the trappage, accessed via the phantom page table entries, to trigger a responseto a potential attack.

In Example 20, the subject matter of Example 19 includes, generating theprivileged virtual memory pages of an operating system kernel or virtualmemory manager, assign the privileged virtual memory pages in theprivileged portion of the virtual memory address space, and placing pagetable entries for the privileged virtual memory pages using kerneladdress space layout randomization (KASLR).

In Example 21, the subject matter of Example 20 includes, establishingattributes of the phantom page, wherein the attributes of the phantompage are established to resemble pages of the privileged virtual memorypages.

In Example 22, the subject matter of Examples 19-21 includes, whereinattributes of the phantom page are established to indicate anexecutable, not executable, read-only, read-write, uncacheable,write-combining, write-through, write-protect, write-back, or reservedstatus of a mapped page.

In Example 23, the subject matter of Examples 19-22 includes, triggeringthe response to the potential attack, with operations that randomize ormodify time to respond to the access to the trap page.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 19-23 includes, whereinthe access to the trap page is detected via hardware registers oroperations on page table entries.

In Example 25, the subject matter of Examples 19-24 includes, triggeringthe response to the potential attack, with operations that generate anexception.

In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 25 includes, triggering apage fault in the computing machine in response to the exception.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Examples 19-26 includes, generatinga plurality of phantom pages including the phantom page; whereinassigning the phantom page is performed with assignment of the pluralityof phantom pages at open locations in the privileged portion of thevirtual memory address space; and wherein generating the phantom pagetable entries is performed to map the plurality of phantom pages to thetrap page.

Example 28 is at least one machine readable medium includinginstructions, which when executed by a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform any of the methods of Examples 19-27.

Example 29 is an apparatus comprising means for performing any of themethods of Examples 19-27.

Example 30 is an apparatus, comprising: means for generating a trap pageat a physical memory address, for a computing machine operates a virtualmemory address space, wherein a privileged portion of the virtual memoryaddress space is used to host a plurality of privileged virtual memorypages mapped in the memory of the computing machine; means for assigninga phantom page at an open location in the privileged portion of thevirtual memory address space; means for generating phantom page tableentries in a page table map, the phantom page table entries mapping thephantom page to the trap page; means for maintaining the trap page inthe memory and maintaining the phantom page table entry in the pagetable map; and means for detecting an access to the trap page, accessedvia the phantom page table entries, to trigger a response to a potentialattack.

In Example 31, the subject matter of Example 30 includes, means forgenerating the privileged virtual memory pages of an operating systemkernel or virtual memory manager, assign the privileged virtual memorypages in the privileged portion of the virtual memory address space, andplacing page table entries for the privileged virtual memory pages usingkernel address space layout randomization (KASLR).

In Example 32, the subject matter of Examples 30-31 includes, means forestablishing attributes of the phantom page, wherein the attributes ofthe phantom page are established to resemble pages of the privilegedvirtual memory pages.

In Example 33, the subject matter of Example 32 includes, means forestablishing the attributes of the phantom page to indicate anexecutable, not executable, read-only, read-write, uncacheable,write-combining, write-through, write-protect, write-back, or reservedstatus of a mapped page.

In Example 34, the subject matter of Examples 30-33 includes, means fordetecting the access to the trap page.

In Example 35, the subject matter of Examples 30-34 includes, means fortriggering the response to the potential attack, with operations thatgenerate an exception.

In Example 36, the subject matter of Example 35 includes, means fortriggering a page fault in the computing machine in response to theexception.

In Example 37, the subject matter of Example 36 includes, means fortriggering the response to the potential attack, with operations thatrandomize or modify time to respond to the access to the trap page.

In Example 38, the subject matter of Examples 30-37 includes, means forgenerating a plurality of phantom pages including the phantom page;means for generating assigning the phantom page with assignment of theplurality of phantom pages at open locations in the privileged portionof the virtual memory address space; and means for mapping the phantompage table entries for the plurality of phantom pages to the trap page.

Example 39 is a system to perform the operations of any of the Examples1-38.

Example 40 is a method to perform the operations of any of the Examples1-38.

In the above Detailed Description, various features may be groupedtogether to streamline the disclosure. However, the claims may not setforth every feature disclosed herein as embodiments may feature a subsetof said features. Further, embodiments may include fewer features thanthose disclosed in a particular example. Thus, the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with a claim standingon its own as a separate embodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing system adapted for detectingunauthorized attempts to access privileged virtual memory pages, thecomputing system comprising: memory to: host a plurality of privilegedvirtual memory pages in a privileged portion of a virtual memory addressspace; and maintain a page table map of page table entries, wherein thepage table map is used to indicate respective physical addresses inmemory of the plurality of privileged virtual memory pages; andprocessing circuitry to: generate a trap page at a physical memoryaddress of the memory; assign a phantom page at an open location in theprivileged portion of the virtual memory address space; generate phantompage table entries mapping the phantom page to the trap page; and detectaccess to the trap page, accessed via the phantom page table entries, totrigger a response to a potential attack.
 2. The computing system ofclaim 1, the processing circuitry further to generate the privilegedvirtual memory pages of an operating system kernel or virtual memorymanager, assign the privileged virtual memory pages in the privilegedportion of the virtual memory address space, and place page tableentries for the privileged virtual memory pages using kernel addressspace layout randomization (KASLR).
 3. The computing system of claim 2,wherein operations that assign the phantom page, include operations toestablish attributes of the phantom page, wherein the attributes of thephantom page are established to resemble pages of the privileged virtualmemory pages.
 4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein attributes ofthe phantom page are established to indicate an executable, notexecutable, read only, read-write, uncacheable, write-combining,write-through, write-protect, write-back, or reserved status of a mappedpage.
 5. The computing system of claim 1, the processing circuitryfurther to trigger the response to the potential attack, with operationsthat randomize or modify time to respond to the access to the trap page.6. The computing system of claim 1, the processing circuitry further totrigger the response to the potential attack, with operations togenerate an exception.
 7. The computing system of claim 6, wherein theexception is a page fault.
 8. The computing system of claim 1, whereinoperations to assign the phantom page are performed from assignment of aplurality of phantom pages, and wherein operations to generate thephantom page table entries are performed to map the plurality of phantompages to the trap page.
 9. The computing system of claim 1, theprocessing circuitry further to generate a plurality of virtual memorypages for respective software programs executing in the computingsystem, and assign the virtual memory pages of the respective softwareprograms in a user portion of the virtual memory address space.
 10. Thecomputing system of claim 1, wherein the access to the trap page isdetected via hardware registers or operations on page table entries. 11.At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium, comprisinga plurality of instructions adapted for detecting unauthorized attemptsto access virtual memory pages, wherein the instructions, responsive tobeing executed with processor circuitry of a computing machine, causethe computing machine to perform operations that: generate a trap pagein a memory of the computing machine, wherein the computing machineoperates a virtual memory address space, and wherein a privilegedportion of the virtual memory address space is used to host a pluralityof privileged virtual memory pages mapped in the memory of the computingmachine; assign a phantom page at an open location in the privilegedportion of the virtual memory address space; generate phantom page tableentries in a page table map, the phantom page table entries mapping thephantom page to the trap page; detect access to the trap page, accessedvia the phantom page table entries, to trigger a response to a potentialattack.
 12. The machine readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing machine to generate theprivileged virtual memory pages of an operating system kernel or virtualmemory manager, assign the privileged virtual memory pages in theprivileged portion of the virtual memory address space, and place pagetable entries for the privileged virtual memory pages using kerneladdress space layout randomization (KASLR).
 13. The machine readablestorage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause thecomputing machine to establish attributes of the phantom page, whereinthe attributes of the phantom page are established to resemble pages ofthe privileged virtual memory pages.
 14. The machine readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein attributes of the phantom page areestablished to indicate an executable, not executable, read-only,read-write, uncacheable, write-combining, write-through, write-protect,write-back, or reserved status of a mapped page.
 15. The machinereadable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the access to the trap pageis detected via hardware registers or operations on page table entries.16. The machine readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing machine to trigger the responseto the potential attack, with operations that generate an exception. 17.The machine readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein operations toassign the phantom page are performed from assignment of a plurality ofphantom pages, and wherein operations to generate the phantom page tableentries are performed to map the plurality of phantom pages to the trappage.
 18. The machine readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing machine to generate virtualmemory pages of software programs in the computing machine, and assignthe virtual memory pages of the software programs in a user portion ofthe virtual memory address space.
 19. A method of detecting unauthorizedattempts to access virtual memory pages, the method comprisingelectronic operations performed in a computing machine, including:generating a trap page at a physical memory address of a memory of thecomputing machine, wherein the computing machine operates a virtualmemory address space, and wherein a privileged portion of the virtualmemory address space is used to host a plurality of privileged virtualmemory pages mapped in the memory of the computing machine; assigning aphantom page at an open location in the privileged portion of thevirtual memory address space; generating phantom page table entries in apage table map, the phantom page table entries mapping the phantom pageto the trap page; maintaining the trap page in the memory andmaintaining the phantom page table entry in the page table map; anddetecting an access to the trap page, accessed via the phantom pagetable entries, to trigger a response to a potential attack.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, the electronic operations further includinggenerating the privileged virtual memory pages of an operating systemkernel or virtual memory manager, assign the privileged virtual memorypages in the privileged portion of the virtual memory address space, andplacing page table entries for the privileged virtual memory pages usingkernel address space layout randomization (KASLR).
 21. The method ofclaim 20, the electronic operations further including establishingattributes of the phantom page, wherein the attributes of the phantompage are established to resemble pages of the privileged virtual memorypages.
 22. The method of claim 19, wherein attributes of the phantompage are established to indicate an executable, not executable,read-only, read-write, uncacheable, write-combining, write-through,write-protect, write-back, or reserved status of a mapped page.
 23. Themethod of claim 19, wherein the access to the trap page is detected viahardware registers or operations on page table entries.
 24. The methodof claim 19, the electronic operations further including: triggering theresponse to the potential attack, with operations that generate anexception; and triggering a page fault in the computing machine inresponse to the exception.
 25. The method of claim 19, the electronicoperations further including: generating a plurality of phantom pagesincluding the phantom page; wherein assigning the phantom page isperformed with assignment of the plurality of phantom pages at openlocations in the privileged portion of the virtual memory address space;and wherein generating the phantom page table entries is performed tomap the plurality of phantom pages to the trap page.